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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22372126">A Breath Before Dawn; The Pause Before A Thunderclap</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/KUG/pseuds/KUG'>KUG</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Asexual Character, Asexual Obi-Wan Kenobi, Enemies to...Something, F/M, Not me that's for sure, Smooching, When is this set? Who knows, no editing we die like men</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 13:21:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,385</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22372126</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/KUG/pseuds/KUG</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"Already his body is melting in her grip, ready to slip free or fight back, but she is not going to let him run through her fingers like water as he always seems to do."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Obi-Wan Kenobi/Asajj Ventress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Breath Before Dawn; The Pause Before A Thunderclap</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Once again I oscillate wildly between "writing at 1 am is a fantastic idea" and "writing at 1 am is a terrible idea" and I'm posting the result without even trying to edit it or wait for the clarity of morning to stop my wicked hand<br/>To anyone who is reading this after looking at the rest of my work, I apologize because I can't explain myself  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  My hyperfixations are a fickle master indeed</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When they crossed blades like this, fast paced, frenetic yet not without grace, Asajj can almost imagine that there are no sides. It’s easier to imagine now that she’s left the Sepratists and Count Dooku and lives only for herself. Her position is more fluid and the lines are blurred.</p><p>Maybe that’s why she feels like there’s a different tone between her and Obi-Wan now. Their duel is more a dance than it’s ever been, the witty banter, arch and teasing, has never been this sizzlingly close to something more; and Obi-Wan already is a shameless, yet polite, flirt. Or maybe this is all in her head and Asajj is just feeling the tension more than ever. She hasn’t had a release of this energy in a while, and there’s a part of her that wants more.</p><p>The energy that’s flowed between them for this whole war is no longer jagged and clouded with hate, rather smoothed over with a strange kinship. As ever, the thread of Obi-Wan’s hope and mercy beckons just below the current like a hand outstretched to pull her to the surface. She has never reached for it before, and tonight it seems to mock her more than ever as her secret frustrations build.</p><p>Asajj does not know what to do, all she knows is that the dance between their bodies and blades is as intimate as it’s ever been and she’s <em>frustrated</em> and he is there, maddeningly calm despite the sweat just starting to gleam on his forehead. Curse those distracting blue eyes of his!</p><p>
  <em>Oh damn you Kenobi.</em>
</p><p>Perhaps he senses her disrupted thoughts, because for a moment Obi-Wan’s eyebrows lower in puzzlement. He is minutely unbalanced by her storming thoughts, and where the Asajj from the beginning of the war would not have noticed or been able to take advantage of such a tiny, momentary flicker in his focus, Asajj as she is now can and will take her chance.</p><p>She flicks her sabers, once twice, breaks his guard enough to slip in a foot and trip him backwards. Obi-Wan is recovering instantly, or he would if she didn’t press her advantage in the same heartbeat, grabbing his wrist and forcing him backwards. He hits the wall just hard enough to rattle him and Asajj pins him briefly. Already his body is melting in her grip, ready to slip free or fight back, but she is not going to let him run through her fingers like water as he always seems to do.</p><p>Before he can get away, before she has time to think too much about it, she kisses him hard.</p><p>It’s rough, all teeth and sweat, but he’s shocked enough by the abruptness of it that he barely resists as Asajj bites his lip and forces his mouth open to let her tongue slip inside. His eyes are wide, startled. She registers that he still has not extinguished his saber, but neither has she, and she doesn’t care, bringing her body flush against his, heat like fire pulsing through her in every cell, heady and hungry.</p><p>Obi-Wan does not reciprocate at all, and after a few moments he makes a move that alerts Asajj in time to get her tongue out of his mouth before his jaws snap shut tightly against her, just like those mental walls of his that he also keeps damnably tight. She pulls back enough to look him in the eye, but their faces are still close enough that they share every breath.</p><p>“I beg your pardon?” he says breathlessly, still polite in spite of it all.</p><p>“I kissed you, Kenobi,” she hisses, “Surely even <em>you</em> know what a kiss is?”</p><p>He pauses. “Well not like that. Why?”</p><p>“I wanted it,” she says, barely managing to stop herself from saying that she <em>needed</em> it, which is true but which she’ll never let him know. He frowns at her. “You haven’t bothered to feel the tension, the <em>energy</em> between us, have you?”</p><p>“Well of course I have, but I don’t….” Obi-Wan stops and suddenly wriggles out of her grip, all the hard lines of his body vanishing as he slithers free. His saber is extinguished, but he stands alert, watching her warily. “Asajj,” he says—and she will <em>never</em> let a soul know what the sound of her name in his mouth does to her—“I don’t think we’re understanding one another.”</p><p>“We never do,” she shoots back, “You’re a jedi, and I am something else.”</p><p>“No, not that,” he says, hands raised in a ‘wait’ gesture, “I mean the…physical…tension.”</p><p>“You mean how I’d like to jump your bones and just tried to?” She doesn’t mince words.</p><p>He smiles wryly at her. “Yes, that, though <em>I</em> wouldn’t say it so crassly.”</p><p>He pauses again, and Asajj can see him gathering his words, probably laying them out in neat rows like a librarian filing datapads. Folding his arms in that particular way of his, Obi-Wan looks at her solemnly, measuring her and the words he’s about to say.</p><p>“You are a lovely woman,” he begins, “And strong and clever to boot. But I have no interest in you in <em>that</em> way.” He raises one hand to forestall anything she might say to that. “It’s not just the Code, which, may I add, in no way forbids physical intimacy, only attachment. It’s me that doesn’t want anything physical. I never have, and I can assure you that I’ve questioned that part of myself thoroughly so it isn’t just the way I was raised.”</p><p>Frowning, Asajj thinks over this. “You mean you have no sexual desire?” she asks after a moment.</p><p>He shrugs. “None. I must confess to having romantic feelings before in my life, but those were attachments I didn’t allow to grow. So no, sexual desire is not something I’ve experienced.”</p><p>Asajj quashes the small feeling of upset that wanted to rise in her, and she grins wolfishly instead. “Not even for little old me?” she simpers huskily, trailing her fingertips down her body as she arches her spine and juts out a hip.</p><p>Obi-Wan watches her with something like amusement, one eyebrow raised. “I’m afraid not, my dear.”</p><p>“Pity,” she sighs. “Guess I’ll have to take this elsewhere.”</p><p>“I’m afraid so,” he says, and for a moment he sounds almost apologetic. Suddenly a smile steals across his face, sly and roughish. “But darling I have to say that that kiss was atrocious.”</p><p>With a snort she snaps back, “As if you could do much better.”</p><p>“Not much,” he agrees, “but I can at least leave you with one <em>nicer</em> than that.”</p><p>Before she processes his words Obi-Wan has closed the distance between them, effortlessly stepping through her guard and putting a hand to her chin. The barest pressure tilts her head back so that her lips might meet his, and Asajj is shocked into stillness as he kisses her softly.</p><p>Everything that her kiss had been, his is not. It’s gentle beyond compare, a breath of air before the sunrise instead of the pause before a thunderclap, and he doesn’t have to bite her lip to kiss her more deeply. The lightest touch of his tongue has her instinctively following his lead. His body is distant from hers and the pressure of one hand gliding up her arm is feather-light. When she had kissed him his eyes had been wide open but they’re closed now and his face is serene instead of shocked. She has extinguished her saber without realizing.</p><p>She closes her eyes.</p><p>When he breaks away he takes all her breath with him, but leaves that thread of energy that’s been between them humming brightly with light. Asajj’s eyes flutter open to find him in the doorway of the room, outlined in silver by the moons’ light and impossibly far away. With a smile and a cheerful, teasing wave of his hand, Obi-Wan melts out into the night and is gone.</p><p>Asajj is left to herself in the dark. Absently she reaches up to touch her mouth, lips still tingling from the sheer gentleness of his touch. She doesn’t even have it in her to be angry at him just now, but she curses him all the same, her voice echoing mildly in the room.</p><p>“Oh damn you Kenobi.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Another story, another day of wondering why I write this romantic bullhonkey when I've never experienced romance myself. Hope you enjoyed nonetheless, I think these two are idiots and therefore I greatly enjoy them</p></blockquote></div></div>
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